mark165

All back together! Five litres of tesco petrol. Optimistic turn of the key and..... Crank, crank, crank. I got the tiniest of splutters then nowt. Doesn't fire on easy start, then I noticed multiple petrol leaks from the carb. Time to order that rebuild kit then!

A little bit of faffing this weekend. Intake Manifold now on, gaskets made and carb subjected to liberal amounts of cleaner. I thought I'd get lucky and have the model corolla with a drain plug in the fuel tank, but after five minutes on the cold floor i was sadly disappointed. After a memorable siphoning tasting event with vegetable oil and diesel during my student days i decided it was time for a Plan B ...12 litres of six year old lucozade removed using a screwfix bulb pump, through the sender unit mounting. Brilliant little bit of kit. I inherited some batteries with the car but they both seem dead even after being left to charge overnight so i borrowed one off another car and checked the electrics. All OK other than an indicator dash bulb. Even the cassette player works and gives out comfortingly bad quality sound from the 35 year old speakers.

I bloody love this. Especially the fact that it has the 4Y in it. Proper survivor. If you do go down the Chinese route please make sure you chuck the old engine engine in the back, you know, just in case.

Some more progress, little 15 min jobs but they all add up. Looking like a real car again. Connected the loom back up, fitted some interior panels, put the radiator back, sealed the rocker cover and filled up engine and gearbox, fitted HT leads and torqued a few bits up with my shiny high spec amazon torque wrench. My clutch master cylinder arrived after two weeks only to find even after supplying all the details and cross referencing that it was a LHD one. I took a punt on one for the later model for £30 as the correct one is 80 quid. Luckily, it fits, just needed to change the rod over so well happy with that. The old one was well past it and full of sludge. Working clutch! Started cleaning the intake manifold. I need to fix the vacuum valve with some tubing as the plastic has snapped and make up some new gaskets. Also I'm not sure what to do with the carb. Thinking of *carefully* applying carb cleaner everywhere and putting compressed air through. Someone has also helpfully mangled one of the adjustment screws. Amazingly, you can buy rebuild kits from the phillipines for £30 delivered so that's currently my Plan B.

Spoke too soon. Turned up with only 1/3 bottles of gear oil!

Thanks to all your replies! Suffice to say it seems after the big hammery waste of time approach, I took the long, messy washing machine unfriendly route, with extra fire. Next time, I will buy that tool....

Out for the weekly food shop. Looked very clean.

I didn't know this thread existed until after I'd ordered some! Placed the order last Saturday for 10w40, gear oil and coolant with carousel. After nothing happening all week, the tracking updated suddenly to say it's in the local depot. I was expecting the worst after reading this thread and seeing their feedback. Hopefully it'll turn up Monday. Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

That's interesting, I didn't know that was a thing, presumably the auto choke wasn't the finest? Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

Where were we? Ah yes, it was all going swimmingly. Too well in fact. After poking around the pile of parts I noticed one that looked very 'engine mounty'. Ah, that'll be the one under the engine I've just put in then. That should be easy but the flywheel cover had been bent back and had a lot of springiness. I got it on there with various clamps and by relifting the engine on one side after a few evenings of trying. On that theme i then discovered a missing engine mount at the front. Mounts are available, trying to find the bracket to attach it to a bit harder. I thought i could graft one from my stash of celica parts but no deal. I then took a punt and after scatter gunning breakers got both parts from a 97 model. Bracket OK, mount different fitment. More Autodoc (but fitted in 10 min) Starter motor? Not present. Got one from a starlet turbo. Clutch slave cylinder. Bled nothing. Took the boot off to find fluid and rust. New one fitted, still no joy. New master now on the way. Courtesy of Ebay and JANPAY20. Then the driveshafts. I'd ruined one of the threads trying to get it out the hub, so I just ordered a NOS cv joint for £notalot. Only to find that they weren't intended to be replaceable. After hitting it with various hammers i went via an angle grinder and made a horrible mess, plus with the added drama of a brake cleaner/wire wool bench fire. Then just to rub it in I had to pay six quid each for some retaining clips from Toyota. Pic of the aftermath attached. Still, in a fit of optimism, I've just ordered oils and coolant and some gasket material. Plus I bought some wheels. However, the carburettor is still sitting on my bench staring at me. I don't understand it, and it probably doesn't understand me either. Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

Sadly not the first time for me either. Even though I'd vowed back then never to repeat it. Any ideas on how to get the smell of gearbox oil out the bench/concrete floor/wooden dolly/bin/clothes/pallet truck/tools/vice/air welcomed! Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

Christmas Corolla update. Optimistically, I'd thought I could mate the engine to the gearbox instead of doing things traditionally. This was brought on due to the fact I'd shoved another old shonky Toyota to the side of this one and didn't have much room. As you can expect, successful fitment didn't happen. Even with help. So, after I'd gotten over myself I disconnected everything, ruined a track rod end, dropped the box and spent an inordinate amount of time releasing stuck driveshafts. I then spent more time cleaning up gearbox oil from the floor than I did fitting it as I mistakenly assumed it was empty but nevermind. Bringing me to now... Twas the night before Christmas.. and the wife had taken the kids to the panto. I strapped it all up and it's now back in, awaiting fitment of the smorgasbord of parts and random bolts. Next step to start the meccano show and fit new gearbox seals and the driveshafts. Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

Right! All assembled with new belt, tensioner,, pump, thermostat etc. Need to fit the pulley then unbolt from the engine stand and fit the clutch then it's ready to go back in. Also cleaned up the engine bay.

Well, most of the past couple of weeks has been spent with a toothbrush and degreaser wiping off 35 years of grime. Pretty grotty. Plus, brushing up the rocker cover and giving it a bit of a spruce up. Got my '12V' sticker ready and waiting to go on. And my clutch arrived in correct period packaging. Next step is to wait on a couple of replacement hoses and then reassemble water pump, thermostat etc. Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

I did this, plus some more scotchbrite rubbing, plus a dab of oven cleaner. Then I went to town and blew the whole thing out with compressed air. Several times. I also cut a groove in a head bolt to clean out the threads. Then finished up with lint free cloths on a stick. Before realising that I was probably into the law of diminishing returns and I had an aura of carb cleaner about me. In other news after trying to compress the valve springs with a set of mulgrips like they do on YouTube, I quickly realised that was going to end badly so ordered a cheap compressor from amazon and had that done on a lunch break. Head now on, new bolts in and I'll bust out the aldi torque wrench middle aisle special later to finish up. I'll then move onto the repainting the rocker cover and cleaning up the grime off the engine block. Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

This week has been spent cleaning up the surfaces on the head and the block surfaces. Pretty much every day, plus two trips to euro car parts for carb cleaner and gasket remover. And a trip to toolstation for a scraper. The head cleaned up fine just with some discolouration. The block however.. can anyone advise here? Most of it seems to be fine, but there's some carbon? buildup around the top of the piston sleeves that won't budge. Am I over thinking this? I also took apart the thermostat housing and water pump and then wish I hadn't as it was full of brown grot and the thermostat required 'precision' extraction. Still, parts arrived and other than a water pump with no pulley, all good! Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

I haven't seen this thread before and I've just lost a load of time reading it. Very enjoyable! Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

Well, after not being able to find any bolts long enough to attach the engine to the bloody stand, I ended up ordering some metric fine threaded bar, which is 2x the price and not at toolstation. But that arrived in the post Thursday enabling me to finally to get it off the hoist. Then the old kitchen table was extracted from storage. Now I've not done any internal engine stuff like this before, but YouTubers from Indonesia wearing flipflops seem to have the complete monopoly on Toyota 2E overhaul videos, so I've been watching them a lot. With a bit of pausing and many a 'skip ad', head is now off. The only sad thing is that someone has used water as the coolant so a bit of rust in there. But could be worse. Overnight parts from Japan ordered (well, Autodoc and definitely not overnight but it's for a japanese car so close enough). Full gasket kit, timing belt kit and a few others. And I found a NOS clutch kit off ebay so ordered that too. Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

Release bearing yes... old clutch assembly AWOL. Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

Few spare hours this afternoon, engine out time. Aldi ratchet straps playing hero once again. My dad has offered me an engine stand to use, so I'll pick that up over the weekend and then start making a shopping list. Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

I thought I'd put this up here as it sits nicely with a few other shonky Toyota threads. There's something about an F reg that just draws me in... I'd just started a large building project last year and definitely didn't have time or cash to spare on it, but it popped up in ebay one evening and I saved it in the watch list. You know, just in case. It looked surprisingly clean from the pictures and on googling the plate this came up. Expecting it to go for Covid project money I chucked in a low bid to amuse myself and let me move on, only to win it at £412. Wife not impressed, meaning I then had to balance with some garden furniture. And then pay to get it moved to Kent. So, not that cheap then. Anyway, the guy I bought it off told me the usual story of 'track car', how he'd changed the engine for a starlet one then never got any further so swapped the old engine back in and sold up. I paid the money and then a car transport guy offered recovery cheap on a return leg. Then began a very long weeks wait. To my relief it turned up and was clean, no rust and plenty of beige, with a whole load of parts in the boot. Annoyingly though the old engine was just bolted up to the box and doesn't look there's a release bearing there. With the kids getting a bit older and a garage to now work in, I've just started this week. Plan is to remove the engine, do the belts, water pump, clearances, clutch etc and then just drive it. Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

Now in my children's hair. And on my jacket. And on my jeans. And my wife's dress. Totally worth it.

Well, funny how the internet and real life collide. I've really enjoyed reading this thread since you started it, thank you for all your efforts. Today I went with the wife and kids to Folkestone to see the circus. First time for my wife and I in about thirty years. Very first time for my kids. My wife was pondering how long it took to set up and I thought I'd check here only to find it's the exact one! My eldest (aged eight) now wants to grow up to be a clown. My youngest (6) wants to be a dancer, with the hula hoops. But no eating fire. Too dangerous apparently. Also not too keen on having their bum out. Seeing it all set up and in operation, with all the different people working really hits home how many hats people have to wear. In today's day and age, what struck me was how honest the whole thing was. A big thank you and please keep the updates coming.